Scripture Verse

If I send pestilence among My people, if My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:13–14

Introduction

portrait
The Angel of Death
Jules Gabriel Levasseur (1823–1907), after Jules-Élie Delaunay (1828–1891)
Wikimedia Commons

Words: James Mont­go­me­ry, Orig­in­al Hymns for Pub­lic, Pri­vate and So­cial De­vo­tion (Lon­don: Long­man, Brown, Green & Long­mans, 1853), num­ber 289, alt. For a Day of Hu­mi­li­ation dur­ing the Pre­va­lence of the Cho­le­ra.

Music: Pa­ris Mi­chael Lon­ne­ke, 2005 (🔊 pdf nwc). The com­pos­er grants per­mis­sion to re­pro­duce the mu­sic for Chris­tian use.

Alternate Tunes:

  • Old Mar­tyrs Psalms (Ed­in­burgh Scot­land: 1615) (🔊 pdf nwc)
  • York Scot­tish Psal­ter, 1615 (🔊 pdf nwc)
portrait
Michael Lonneke (1943–)

Lyrics

O let the land mourn through its coasts,
The king lay by his state;
And princ­es, rul­ers, at their posts,
Awhile sit de­so­late.

Let priests and peo­ple, high and low,
Rich, poor, and great, and small,
Invoke, in fel­low­ship of woe,
The Mak­er of them all.

For God hath sum­moned from His place
Death, in a dir­er form,
To wak­en, warn, and scourge our race,
Than earth­quake, fire, or storm.

Let church­es weep with­in their pale,
And fa­mi­lies apart;
Let each in sec­re­cy be­wail
The plague of his own heart.

So, while the land be­moans its sin,
The pes­ti­lence may cease,
And mercy, tem­per­ing wrath, bring in
Not health alone, but peace—

The peace of God, which pass­eth thought,
Keep ev­ery heart and mind,
Till all, by this af­flict­ion taught,
Be to His will re­signed.